Graduate School
Boston University

Undergraduate School
Hamilton College

Mentor
David Ellis, former president of Museum of Science

Agency
MA Executive Office for Environmental Affairs

Supervisor
Ellen Roy Herzfelder, Secretary of Environmental Affairs

Description of Fellowship
As a Rappaport Fellow, Josh began working for Secretary of Environmental Affairs Roy Herzfelder within the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs (EOEA) in May, 2003. The EOEA is the office charged with managing all of Massachusetts’ state environmental offices. When he arrived the EOEA proposed merging the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) and the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to create a new entity, known as the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR).

Betsy Shure Gross, then a Special Assistant for Community Preservation at the EOEA, had proposed the formation of a new Office of Public Private Partnerships to support the newly created DCR. In early June, when the merger and subsequent proposal were approved by the legislature, Bagnato was asked by Ms. Shure Gross to submit a plan for this office’s structure. He spent the next six weeks researching and designing this framework. In late July, he formally submitted his proposal to both the Secretary and the transition team, the group responsible for the merger. Many of his ideas from this proposal were announced at an August 18, 2003 press conference announcing the Office of Public Private Partnerships to the public. Bagnato says that during this fellowship, he learned that to achieve change within the public sector, it is important to market your ideas to the constituent base.